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Henry Evans
Henry Evans is the father of James. He appeared in the episode "The Family Tree", then in "Grandpa's Visit" in Season 4 and "Something Old, Something New" in Season 5. The part of Henry was played in the episodes by veteran stage, film and TV actor Richard Ward. About Henry In his first appearance in the episode "The Family Tree", Henry, after 35 years, pops up at the Evans' apartment and back into his son James's life; while the rest of the family was excited for James, who was having a birthday party, and who hadn't seen Henry since he was 11 years old, needless to say, was not exactly thrilled at Henry all of sudden wandering back into his life, as he adamantly said to Florida that he didn't want to see him, when they were throwing a birthday party for him. When Henry sees his son James for the first time in 35 years after Florida persuades him to try to talk to James, who refuses to come out of he and Florida's bedroom, he says "Jimmy! Why, how you have grown!" ''as James responds ''"What do you think, it's been 35 years!" as he then angrily asks "Man, where have you been, man?!?" Henry, who had worked as a merchant marine for many of the 35 years he had been estranged from his family, tries to explain why he walked out on James and his mother and family and Mississippi many years earlier, he explained that he being there was just adding one more mouth to feed, which made it even harder to survive on sharecroppers wages, as he admits his mistake in leaving, and that he tried to get in touch with James, but didn't know how, for he had already moved to Chicago by that time. When the two walk out of the bedroom together, James tells the family "You all can finish with your birthday party business...We got company!" as the two reconcile. In Henry's second visit in "Grandpa's Visit", he arrives at the Evans's during the Thanksgiving holidays with a new elderly lady friend named Lena (played by Paulene Myers) who affectionately refers to him as "Tiger"! The two, who just began seeing each other, are apparently living together also; when they go to sleep together in Michael and J.J's room, it kind of rubs Florida the wrong way, the prospect of the two living together while not married, as they plan to leave. As Henry and Lena wait for their bus, Florida has a change of heart and invites the two back to their apartment to enjoy Thanskgiving dinner with the family! In his final visit in'' "Something Old, Something New"'', he and Lena, who accompanys him in his visit to the Evans's apartment again, has a hard time explaining to his now fiancee Lena that he wants to postpone their upcoming marriage; his reasoning being over concerns that the two would struggle on Social Security together, as the U.S. Patent office turned down his latest invention; a food compresser, as he says "They had two more like it..even the Japanese had one with a built in AM/FM radio! Florida, Willona, and the others get to two to reconcile, as Lena was contemplating breaking off their engagement at first, as Henry, after having had one too many to drink at a nearby bar, just minutes before his wedding, changes his mind and decides go ahead to marry her in the Evans' apartment. Category:Characters Category:Recurring characters Category:Notable characters